Ministry on Trial

I am a Catholic who watched “Koppel Report” after reading the TV review “An Entertaining ‘Koppel Report’ Takes On TV Evangelism’s All-Stars” (by Bill Steigerwald, May 12).

Koppel’s adversarial and harsh treatment of the show’s Protestant minister panel revealed Koppel as narrow-minded and biased.

He alluded to TV ministers as “hogs at a trough” and put all TV ministry on trial for the acts of a few. So much for journalistic balance and fairness.

Koppel’s guests had nothing to do with the recent TV ministry scandals. His descending to attacks rather than rising to truth-seeking did not give the audience much factual evidence on which to conclude anything about the overall validity of religious broadcasting.

If the subject of integrity and proper behavior by those with a public trust was the motivating force of Koppel’s broadcast, perhaps his next show should call together a panel of TV journalists.

They can discuss whether the integrity and ethics of broadcast journalists are challenged by those who walk off the air over disputes with management, turn interviews with vice presidents into arguments and accept millions of dollars in yearly salaries.

CAROLINE MIRANDA

North Hollywood